My little bookworm

I was an English major in college, which means I read constantly. And I didn't get to pick any of the books. It was all required reading. I was also a non-traditional student. It took me nine years to get my degree because I was working and going to school at the same time.

I share this to say that I spent many, many years not reading for fun.

But a few years ago, something changed. 
I think it finally occurred to me that I could read whatever I wanted. I could read classics, or I could the cheesiest novel on the shelf. I could read mysteries or whatever is on the top of the best-seller lists.

Ever since my literary epiphany, I've found my love of reading again.

Biscuit loves books, too. He's enjoyed hearing me read to him ever since he was a tiny little thing. We've read some of his books so many times, I can recite them by heart.

So this evening, I decided to take Biscuit for his first trip to the library.

We walked in, Biscuit looked around, and in a non-library-appropriate voice, said, "MOM! There are books EVERYwhere!"

"Yeah," I said. "This is the library. We're going to get you your own library card so you can check out books to read."

"At the library, you can borrow books and take them home and read them, but then you have to bring them back. You don't get to keep them," Biscuit said. "But, when you bring them back, you DO get to get all new books to take home."

The guy behind the counter made a nice fuss over Biscuit getting his card. Kids get cute little sleeves for their cards.

I let Biscuit hold his card for a few minutes, until he got distracted by a little wooden house in the middle of the kids section. He handed me his card, and he was gone.

I finally dragged him out of there and told him we needed to pick out some books.

Biscuit was overwhelmed, and I know exactly how he felt. I still get overwhelmed walking blindly into a bookstore or library. There are so many choices, I just feel paralyzed.

Luckily, the guy who made Biscuit's card for him had given me the shelf numbers for a couple of books about firefighters. So I figured that was a good start.

We wandered around and grabbed other books about dinosaurs, sharks and cowboys. We got eight books, and I figured that was enough.

I was disappointed when we got to the check-out station, though. It was a self-serve check-out, and I was immediately excited. I always loved the process of checking out books. There was a rhythm to it. The ladies would neatly stack the books, then one by one, they would take the card from the back of the book, stamp it with my library card, close the book and start a new stack. I can still remember the cadence of it.

Tonight, I set Biscuit's books on a platform by the check-out computer. I scanned his card and watched the computer screen as his "account" appeared. All of a sudden, the titles of eight books appeared on the screen. I hadn't scanned the books in any way. All I did was set them on the platform. I'm guessing they have some kind of magnetic strips in them, but that really freaked me out.

Biscuit asked if he could carry one of his books to the car. Then as we were walking out, he said, "Thanks for getting me a library card, Mom. It's really awesome."

Here's Biscuit and his books:

"Mom, that dinosaur on the book is saying 'ROAR'!"

After his bath tonight, Biscuit asked if he could read his library
books instead of watching TV ... and the angels sang!